The Find Centroids tool creates point features that represent the geometric center (centroid) of multipoint, line, and polygon features.
The output is a hosted feature layer.
Example
A GIS analyst wants to perform a preliminary review on wind farm applications to determine those that overlap or are in view of wildlands. To create the viewshed for each wildland area, the analyst must first create point features to represent each wildland. The Find Centroids tool can be used to create centroids within each wildland area.
Usage notes
Find Centroids includes configurations for input features and a result layer.
Input features
The Input features group includes the following parameters:
- Input feature specifies the multipoint, line, or polygon layer for which centroids will be created.
Centroid location specifies where the output centroids will be located. If True geometric centroid (default) is specified, the output points will be located at the true centroid, including where the true centroid falls outside the bounds of the input features. If Contained within each input feature is specified, the output points will be located at the nearest point to the actual centroid while remaining inside or contained by the bounds of the input feature.
The difference in result layers is shown when the true geometric centroid is returned (first image) or centroids are contained within input features (second image).
Result layer
The Result layer group includes the following parameters:
- Output name determines the name of the layer that is created and added to the map. The name must be unique. If a layer with the same name already exists in your organization, the tool will fail and you will be prompted to use a different name.
- Save in folder specifies the name of a folder in My Content where the result will be saved.
Limitations
Simple point features cannot be used to create centroids.
Environments
Analysis environment settings are additional parameters that affect a tool's results. You can access the tool's analysis environment settings from the Environment settings parameter group.
This tool honors the following analysis environments:
- Output coordinate system
- Processing extent
Note:
The default processing extent in Map Viewer is Full extent. This default is different from Map Viewer Classic in which Use current map extent is enabled by default.
Credits
This tool consumes credits.
Use Estimate credits to calculate the number of credits that will be required to run the tool. For more information, see Understand credits for spatial analysis.
Outputs
This tool creates an output hosted feature layer with point features.
Licensing requirements
This tool requires the following licensing and configurations:
- Creator or GIS Professional user type
- Publisher, Facilitator, or Administrator role, or an equivalent custom role
Resources
Use the following resources to learn more:
- Find Centroids in ArcGIS REST API
- find_centroids in ArcGIS API for Python
- Feature To Point in ArcGIS Pro